I know, everyone is writing and podcasting about AI at the moment – YAWN! But the AI generation of music (audio) has just taken another huge leap forward, and in this podcast I wonder what it means for the teaching and learning of music creation – composition, songwriting, producing, and so on. Can students just get AI to do their work for them? Should we be encouraging it or banning it? And if the really good technologies make audio, not MIDI, how easy is it to create a score for that audio (in school systems where a score is still required)? I’ve created a load of tracks with Suno.ai and I’l ..read more

Today’s show is sponsored by Abble and their new product the iSlave Mini, as well as by FcDonald’s. Please check out these unreliable products! In this episode I’m reflecting on the list of pre-service music teachers’ blogs that I published via my blog yesterday, and the courses to which each relates. I make links to the brilliant Electronic Music School by Will Kuhn and Ethan Hein, and also to the DAYTiME music conference coming up in Adelaide and streamed online on June 14th this year. I explain why public blogging is useful as a tool to encourage critical thinking, not just in undergraduate ..read more

Having had a grumble about the lack of an evidence-base in the local government’s supposedly “Evidence-based syllabus” in the last episode, I turn this into a positive, with the first of several podcasts accounting for my own research in music education, as well as others’. In this episode, specifically, my chapter on teaching music creation in Australia which is part of a relatively new book “The Routledge Companion to Teaching Music in Schools”. I would really LOVE it if you’d add comments on the corresponding blog post for this episode… https://humberstone.org/2024/04/04/musiczettel-s3e10-t ..read more

Following on from the last episode of MusicZettel, in which I focused on the positive things about the new NSW Syllabus, in this episode, I look at the things that the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) got wrong, especially given that they’re claiming this is an “Evidence-Based Syllabus”. I hope that this critical look at the syllabus is useful for listeners in other states and countries also being affected by syllabus/curriculum reform. NB This podcast was removed for a day following my website upgrade yesterday – there was no government conspiracy! I would love to know wha ..read more

I’m asking the big questions today, prompted by the new year 7 to 10 (12 to 16 years) music syllabus released recently by the NSW Government: what is classroom music education for? What are the aims of this syllabus, and can we remember the good to avoid the not-so-good? Today I’m focusing (mostly) on what’s good in this new syllabus, and using that to advocate for the same aims in Music Education. I also mention an article that I wrote recently for AARE (The Australian Association for Research in Education) responding to the new syllabus, and you can read that here: https://blog.aare.edu.au/t ..read more

In today’s episode I talk about ways I’ve used samping in my own composition and production, and ways that I’ve used it to teach composition and engage children in my music classes. There are lots of ideas, and examples of music that I’ve written. My page of resources on teaching sampling with the Flip Sampler app is available here. If you have any comments, I’d love you to leave them on my blog, where I publish this podcast series. https://humberstone.org/2024/03/08/music-zettel-s3e7-teaching-music-through-sampling/ Here is an Otter.ai transcription of this episode: s3e7-sampling_otter_aiDown ..read more

This episode of Music Zettel extends ideas about The Maker Movement for Music Education with a recording of my (lockdown) conversation with expert maker-teacher, Phil Nanlohy. Big thanks to Phil for recording this conversation for my students during lockdown, and also for giving me permission to include it in Music Zettel, even if that did take me a few years! I would really love to hear from you with any feedback about this season of Music Zettel. You can simply add a comment here: https://humberstone.org/2024/02/27/music-zettel-s3e6-the-maker-movement-pt-2-with-mr-phil/ Here’s an AI-made tra ..read more

In this episode of Music Zettel I revisit the topic of the Maker Movement in music education – something that I’ve discussed in prior seasons. I also bring something back from those prior seasons – interviews with teachers! Caitlin Sandiford is a brilliant music teacher who plays in ensemble QuartEd, is a composer and music producer, and is doing a research masters at the Sydney Con. At the time of the interview, Rowena Stewart was a programmer by day, and volunteer teacher with the Girls Programming Network by night/weekend/school holiday. They both bring wonderful perspectives to this topic ..read more

In this episode, I show how setting a poem to music can be guided by the structure of the words, using an example from my latest music theatre work, Agapi and other kinds of love, created with poet and rapper Luka Lesson. I then explain how these students can use this approach as models for their own compositions and music productions, through free education resources I’ve shared. Music is by me, James Humberstone, and Luka Lesson. All text in and concepts for Agapi are by Luka Lesson and remain his copyright. You can access the learning resources I’ve made to go with the show here: https://hu ..read more

In this episode, I introduce the sound worlds that I created to reflect the narrative in my latest music theatre work, Agapi and other kinds of love, created with poet and rapper Luka Lesson. I then explain how these sound worlds can be used as models for student compositions and music productions, through free education resources I’ve shared. Music is by me, James Humberstone, and Luka Lesson. All text in and concepts for Agapi are by Luka Lesson and remain his copyright. You can access the learning resources I’ve made to go with the show here: https://humberstone.craft.me/AgapiRiverside You ..read more